Director: Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey
Score: 9/10
A Film Worthy of its Subject
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on this week, I’d like to do a retrospective review of a movie that sincerely changed my outlook on movies. Frankly, I can’t even remember how my wife and I first heard about the Secret of Kells. I think it may have been due to following the Oscar nominations at the end of the year, but The Secret of Kells flew pretty much under the radars of everyone. It garnered quite a bit of acclaim in international circles, but wasn’t a name anyone on the street knew of.
Their loss, I suppose. The Secret of Kells is a masterwork, and for a first-time directorial effort, Tomm Moore found a way to bring Celtic tradition and history to life in the most spellbinding way I’d ever seen, and it stands out to this day, surpassed only by his follow-up in this last year, Song of the Sea.
Kells is, without hyperbole, one of the most beautiful hand-animated features ever made, which is fitting, considering how it pays homage to one of the most detailed, exhaustive, and magnificent examples of iconography in history, the Book of Kells. Indeed, this picture presents a fictionalized history for the book, following its arrival and subsequent completion at the Abbey of Kells, in Ireland.
Our story follows Brendan (voiced by the young Evan McGuire) as he learns not only about the world outside the walls of his city, but about the mingling of druidic influence with the deep and profound Christian ethic that buoyed up the Celts, even as they were under threat from the pagan Norse. Very few movies have ever treated religion and iconography with such honest and gentle motions. It’s so easy to make these sorts of films to be hackneyed and ham-fisted, trying to fight on behalf of that which speaks for itself. Instead, much like the real-life illuminators who created the greatest national treasure Ireland has, the movie simply presents pure, bare-faced faith, and really couldn’t care less about whether or not you accept the truths inside.
Religious motives aside, Kells isn’t about trying to advance anything. At it’s heart, it’s about the preservation and presentation of history, of culture, and of national lore. It’s a film created out of deep, abiding love and pride in Irish nationality.
If Kells has a weak point, it’s in how little it explains. The iconography tells more than the plot does, and this film really needs two or three views to catch the details that help guide you through the plot. Moore clearly learned more about how to get his stories across by the time Song of the Sea came to creation, but it’s easy to see flashes of his narrative genius here, as well. Kells is a story told almost entirely through its visuals, which defy description. The simple, almost cubist style defies every convention of animation the Western and Eastern traditions have, using surreal shifts in perspective, color, and stylization to underpin the story so effectively, Kells almost would have worked without any speech at all.
Honestly, this movie just needs to be seen, if for no other reason than to experience the visual excellence.
Acting: 8
Story: 6
Visuals: 10
Sound: 7
Enjoyment: 9
Overall Score: 9/10
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